A standoff with gunman who fired shots from a high-powered rifle at a San Diego apartment complex on Wednesday prompted a temporary ground stop at the city's major airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration did not allowing flights to land at San Diego International Airport for several hours, according to a spokesman. Its runway ends several blocks from the apartment complex that was surrounded by San Diego SWAT officers Wednesday morning, after officers responding to a domestic violence call apparently came under fire.
By 2:33 p.m., FAA spokesman Ian Gregor confirmed the ground stop had been lifted at the airport.
"However, there is a lot of built-up arrival demand so we will meter the flow of aircraft into the airport," FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said in an e-mail.
"We urge patience while airlines work to get planes back on schedule," said San Diego International Airport spokeswoman Rebecca Bloomfield. "We encourage travelers or those picking up passengers to continue checking with the airlines on the status of flights."
During the ordeal, planes in the Western U.S. that had yet to take off for San Diego were being held at their gates, Gregor said. Planes that were in the air were holding or diverting -- a situation that troubled one woman waiting for her cousin to arrive from Brazil.
"I don't know what's going on, where he's going to land here or what is going to happen," Carla McEwen said Wednesday at San Diego International Airport around noon.
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No injuries have been reported after the gunfire, in the Bankers Hill neighborhood.
